Degumming textile materials



atented Sept. 26,

GEQRGES JENNY AND OSCAR JAECK, 0F BASEL, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNORS TO SWISS FERN Ho Drawing.

OF BASEL, SWITZERLAND.

Application filed'June 16, 1920. Serial No. 889,453.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We,

GEORGES J ENNY and OSCAR JAECK, both citizens of the Swiss Republic, and resident s of Basel, Switzerland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Deg-um rials,

and exact specification. The action which the in rendering soluble starch ming Textile Mateof which the following is a full, clear,

amylase of malt has and the like has been extensively applied for some years in textile industries or printed fabrics.

as it does large quanti for degumming unbleached This application using ties of cereals which should be consumed as food has little to recommend it in ordinary times and becomes inadmissible in age and the desirability times of food shortof finding a suitable substitute becomes a matter of urgency.

Roberts (Proceedings of the Royal Society 1881, Vol. 32, page 145) has shown that the pancreas of certain animals secretes large quantities of an amylase, the diastatic power of which is proportionally far su-- perior to that origin; these glands of the slaughter-house, plication a technical advance.

would be both However, the substiof amylases of vegetable being a waste material their industrial apan economical and tution of this amylase for vegetable amylases presents a number of difficulties in practice because the very dilute solution, degumming fabrics much more sensitive amylases to the relative which are also necessa In fact the dry starch materials to Sll incapable of attack by the again gelatinized, the operation should proceed at it has been essary that a temperature of about 60 astases used hitherto a this temperature even in dilute act under these conditions with maxlmum which be degummed, being practically pancreatic amylase in ch as is required for for example, is very than the vegetable ly high temperatures ry in the operation. is present in the ferments until makes it nec- C. Malt dito withstand solution and re able energy, but this is, not the case with pancreatic amylase which in dilute solution and at 60 C. rapidly loses its properties.

This diluted aqueous extract of pancreas for example loses at 0. even in 5 minutes, at least three-quarters of its original activity. At 55 C. reduce by one-half the 10' minutes sufice to diastatic power, and

i the degum ming bath is made with additlon of certaln neutral salts (notably chlorides) as for instance neutral salts of alkali or alkaline earth metals. These salts have the property of protecting the amylase against the injurious action of heat. able proportions of these neutral salts to be added to the bath are from 35 kilos or more per 1000 litres of the bath. It is preferable to use hard water in making up the bath, as the salts in this already exercise a certain protective action. Under these conditions the amylase subsequently added will preserve the whole of its activity, whereas without this addition of salts the iierement would be destroyed even before the textile material could be wetted. Most of the scientific work that has been done in connection with pancreatic amylase has been for the purpose of studying its action in the animal organism and has been conducted at the physiological temperature of 37.54c5' (3., all tures above these being considered as prejudicial to the enzymatic activity. It is only owing to our investigations that we have been able to displace the optimum towards the temperature of 58-60 C. necessary for the industrial operation of degumming, whileat the same time increas ing the activity of the amylase and using it completel Moreover, some of the neutral salts a oresaid, particularly chlorides, have even in very small proportion an activatin action on. the amylase, and owing to this act the selection of suitable salts to be added is not merely a precaution against the destructive action of the heat but plays a considerable art in accelerating the disintegration of .t e starch.

The invention also relates to the avoidance of another practical difliculty common to all enzymatic processes of de mining, whether the amylase be of vegetabTe or animal origin; on the one hand it is hardly possible to exceed a temperature of 60 C. necessary for complete dissolution of the completely tempera- "are nearly always,

ordinary hard water .at 00 C. and

starch for physiological reasons; on the other hand the materials to be degummed owing to their nature, or to their previous treatment, more or less diflicult to soak because they contain fatty or resinous matters, and in order to degum perfectly and rapidly it is obvious that the bath should penetrate as uniformly and as quickly as possible into the woven goods. The addition of materials which are commonly used to facilitate de greasing, such as soda, soap and the like, cannot be made when amylase is being used because they give rise to rapid destruction of the ferment.

B the present invention biliary salts, the emu sifying action of which is well-known, are used together with pancreatic amylase. With this addition "fabrics become rapidly soaked even at 60 C., the fatty matters and the spots of mineral oil are emulsified, while the addition is not hurtful to the action of the enzymes and even considerably improves that action. Finally, biliary salts have themselves a protective action upon animal amylase against the effect of high temperatures and in consequence this association with the neutral salts aforesaid confers upon the deeumming bath a resistance which fulfils advantageously all practical requirements.

The following example illustrates the invention.

The degumming loath is prepared with there are added from 3-5 kilos of a neutral salt of an alkali or an alkaline earth metal, "for instance sodium chloride or calcium chloride, per 1000 litres of the bath. @n the other hand, there are dissolved or mixed in 10-20 parts or tepid or cold ordinary water, a suitable quantity of the preparation of pancreatic amylase and of biliary salts or of a mixture of these. This solution, filtered it necessary, is addedto the degumming loath prepared as described alcove and the woven goods to be degummed are introduced, care being talren tolreepthe temperature oi the bath constant, that is to say avoiding any tall or temperature to below 58 C. or thereabouts. The amylolytic action of this bath is at least 10 times that of a bath containing solely the same quantity of the diastatic product. The quantities and temperatures indicated in this ex ample may be varied according to the nature first preparing an rnaonaa oi the goods to be degummed and the apparatus used.

What we claim is:

1. An improved biochemical process for degumming textile materials, consisting in aqueous degumming bath containing pancreatic amylase, biliary salts and a neutral salt and treating the textile materials to be degummed with the said bath at a temperature of 58 to 60 C.

2. An improved biochemical process tor degumming textile materials, consisting in first preparing an aqueous degumming bath containing pancreatic amylase, biliary salts and a neutral chloride and treating the tea tile materials to be degummed with the said bath at a temperature of 58 to 00 C.

3. An improved biochemical process for degumming textile materials, consisting in first preparing .an aqueous degumming bat containing pancreatic amylase, biliary salts and a neutral alkali salt and treating the textile materials to be degummed with the said bath at a temperature of 58 to 00 C.

4;. An improved biochemical process for degumming textile materials, consisting in first preparing an aqueous degumming bath containing pancreatic amylase, biliary salts and a neutral salt of an alkaline earth metal and treating the textile materials to be degummed with the said bath at a temperature of 58 to 60 C.

5. An improved biochemical-process tor degumming textile materials, consisting in first preparing an aqueous degumming bath containing pancreatic amylase, biliary salts and a neutral alkali chloride and treating the textile materials to be degummed wit the said bath at a temperature of 58 to 60 C.

6. An improved biochemical process "for degumming textile materials, consisting in first preparing an aqueous degumming bath containing pancreatic amylase, biliary salts and a neutral chloride of an alkali earth metal and treating the textile materials to be degummed with the said bath at a temperature of 58 to 00 C.

.ln witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names this 29th day of May 1920, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

G-EQRGES JENNY. @SGAR JAECK.

Witnesses:

Amman Beans, Jone: H. Loan. 

